The Cherokees were raising corn as early as 1,000 BC. Before European contact the Cherokees were already participating in a thanksgiving ceremony; the most important ceremony of the year, called the "Green Corn Ceremony."

The Cherokee Nation, while itself not a state, was nevertheless involved in the War Between the States as a "foreign ally". While some Cherokee troops were aligned with the Union, many aligned themselves with the Confederacy.

The Texas Cherokee were a branch of the Cherokee Nation who had lived in our ancestral homeland in the Southeastern United States. In 1839, the Cherokee were forced on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory.